Life, love and laughter from Steve Goodier. Life Support System articles, stories, humor and hope.

Friday, September 16, 2011

What Is Your Rope Tied To?

You may have heard of the man who decided to repair the roof of
his house. The pitch was steep, and to be safe, he tied a rope around
his waist and threw the other end of it over the top of the house. He
called his son and asked him to tie it to something secure. The boy
fastened the safety rope to the bumper of their car parked in the
driveway. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

But a little while later, his wife needed to run a few errands
with the automobile. Unaware of the line securing her husband, she
started the car and proceeded to drive away. The rope immediately
tightened and jerked the man over the roof and into thin air. Now
before you become alarmed, let me assure you that this never really
happened. But I chuckle at the image of the poor guy sailing over the
top of his house like Evel Knievel without a motorcycle.

This story, factual or not, points to a great truth. It is a truth
about where we place our security; about those things to which we’ve
tied our safety lines. What is your rope tied to?

Think about it. What do you depend on to keep you from disaster?
Is your rope tied to a good job? Is it tied to a relationship with
somebody you rely on? Is it tied to a company or an organization?

In her wise and sensitive audio Lessons in Living, writer Susan
Taylor tells of discovering how unreliable some of our safety lines
really are. She tells of lying in bed in the early hours of the
morning when an earthquake struck. As her house shook, she tumbled
out of bed and managed to stand underneath an arched door-way in her
hall, watching in horror as her whole house tumbled down around her.
Where her bed had once stood, she later discovered nothing but a pile
of rubble. She lost everything – every button, every dish, her
automobile, every stitch of clothing.

Susan huddled, scared and crying, in the darkness. In the predawn
morning she cried and called out for help.

As exhaustion set in, she thought that maybe she should be
listening for rescuers rather than making so much commotion. So she
grew still and listened. In the silence around her, the only sound she heard was the
beating of her own heart. It occurred to her then that at least she
was still alive and, amazingly enough, unhurt. She thought about her
situation. In the stillness, fear abandoned her and a feeling of
indescribable peace and happiness flooded in, the likes of which she
had never before known. It was an experience that was to permanently
change her life.

In the deepest part of her being, Susan realized a remarkable
truth. She realized she had nothing to fear. Amazingly, whether or
not she was ever rescued, whether she even made it out alive, she
sensed she had nothing to fear.

For the first time in her life she understood that her true
security did not depend on those things in which she had placed her
trust. It lay deep within. And also for the first time, she knew what
it was to be content in all circumstances. She realized that, in an
ultimate sense, whether she had plenty or hardly enough, somehow she
would be all right. She just knew it.

She later wrote, "Before the quake I had all the trappings of
success, but my life was out of balance. I wasn’t happy because I
was clinging to things in my life and always wanting more. My home,
my job, my clothes, a relationship – I thought they were my
security. It took an earthquake and losing everything I owned for me
to discover that my security had been with me all along . . . There’s
a power within us that we can depend upon no matter what is happening
around us."

She had tied her rope to the wrong things. It took a disaster for
her to understand that those things are untrustworthy. So she let go
of the rope and discovered peace. She found that her true security
was a power within – dependable and sure.

What is your rope tied to? And what would happen if you found the
courage to let go of it?